Crane having a principal mast and a pivotable auxiliary jib



Aug. 29, 1967 5. J. WEBER 3,338,423

CRANE HAVING A PRINCIPAL MAST AND A PIVOTABLE AUXILIARY JIB Filed May 9, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Jam SL11 (11.1

i w -Eaw, C -m, 21Ju-lL w IZw ATTORNEY5 Aug. 29, 1967 5. J. WEBER 3,333,428

CRANE HAVING A PRINCIPAL MAST AND A PIVOTABLE AUXILIARY JIB Filed May 9, 1966 5 heets-Sheet INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Aug. 29, 1967 s. .1. WEBER CRANE HAVING A PRINCIPAL MAST AND A PIVOTABLI] AUXILIARY JIB 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 1966 I NVEN TOR ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,338,428 CRANE HAVING A PRINCIPAL MAST AND A PIVOTABLE AUXILIARY .lIB Svend Jorgen Weber, Copenhagen, Denmark, assignor to Byggeriets Maskinstationer, Aktieselskab, Copenhagen, Denmark Filed May 9, 1966, Ser. No. 548,599 Claims priority, application Denmark, May 12, 1965, 2,398/ 65 2 Claims. (Cl. 212-58) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A crane with a principal mast which is erectable in essentially an one-step operation by use of a floating pulley and hauling winch means at the base of the crane that also serves to operate the auxiliary jib at the upper end of the crane. To provide erecting leverage an elevating lever is utilized, to the free end of which is connected the floating pulley with a holding line from said free end being connected to the upper end of the mast. Additionally, the free end of elevating lever is lockable to provide mast support through said holding line in conjunction with rigid stay means connectable directly between the frame and said mast.

This invention relates to a crane comprising a principal mast, the lower end of which is pivotably connected to a winch frame, said principal mast carrying a pivotable auxiliary jib and a supporting lever for same, the free ends of said auxiliary jib and of said supporting lever being connected with each other by means of a stay rope or a stay rope set, said crane further comprising an elevating lever for the principal mast, one end of said elevating lever being pivotably connected with the foot of the principal mast or with the winch frame, the other, free end of said elevating lever being connected with the top of said principal mast by means of a holding rope or a holding rope set, said elevating lever further carrying a pulley or set of pulleys for a hauling winch mounted on the winch frame, the angular position of said auxiliary jib relative to said principal mast being adjustable by means of a jib rope or jib rope set which is connected with the free end of said supporting lever.

A crane of this type may be used in the following manner: The principal mast is elevated by operation of the hauling winch, the force being transferred from the latter via the pulley or set of pulleys at the free end of the elevating-lever to the top of the principal mast by means of the holding rope or holding rope set. After the principal mast has been elevated, the angular position of the auxiliary jib may be varied by hauling or slackening the jib rope or ji-b rope set which will transfer the force to the free end of the supporting lever, which again, by way of the stay rope or stay rope set, will move the auxiliary jib whereby a crane hook suspended from the top of the latter is moved in a horizontal direction.

To this crane hook belongs a hoisting rope with an associated hoisting Winch on the winch frame of the crane. The crane may also have an additional hook which, by means of an additional hoisting rope, is suspended from a pulley at the top of the principal mast, an additional hoisting winch being associated with said additional hoisting rope. It will be realized that such a crane may comprise no less than four winches, viz. a hauling winch, a jib and two hoisting winches.

In connection with the present invention it has been considered whether it would be possible to omit at least one winch. This might be done by bracing the principal mast relative to the winch frame after it has first been elevated by means of the hauling winch, and then removing the rope of the hauling winch from the pulley or set of pulleys at the free end of the elevating lever and connecting this rope with the jib rope or jib rope set whereafter the hauling winch may be used for changing the angular position of the auxiliary jib relative to the principal mast, or, in other words, the hauling winch might then be used as a jib winch. If, however, the set of pulleys at the free end of the elevating lever and the set of pulleys of the hauling winch comprise many pulleys, it is a comprehensive operation to perform the said change-over, and, moreover, the hauling rope must again be engaged with the set of pulleys at the free end of the elevating lever When the principal mast is to be lowered.

It is the object of the invention to devise a crane of the type referred to which may, in a simple manner, he re-arranged so that the hauling winch may also be used for operation of the auxiliary jib. With this object in view, according to the invention, the said pulley or set of pulleys at the free end of said elevating lever is detachably connected with the latter and is connected with said jib rep or ropes for said jib, the crane being constructed with means for releasably locking said elevating lever relative to said winch frame in the elevated position of said principal mast. Hereby the advantage is obtained that the hauling winch may be used for operating the jib rope or jib rope set without any complicated re-arrangement, all that is necessary being to detach the pulley or set of pulleys from the free end of the elevating lever after the latter has been locked to the winch frame by means of the said locking means in the elevated position of said principal mast.

The invention will now be explained in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 shows one form of a crane according to the invention in lowered position,

FIG. 2 the crane in elevated position,

FIG. 3 part of the crane on an enlarged scale, and

FIG. 4 a section along the line IV-IV in FIGURE 3.

In the drawing, 1 is the principal mast of the crane which, at its lower end, is pivotably connected to a winch frame by means of a trunnion 2. An auxiliary jib 5 is pivotably connected to the top 4 of the principal mast 1, and at its outer end carries a pulley 6 for a hoisting rope 7 carrying a crane hook 8. In combination with the auxiliary jib there is provided a supporting lever 9 which is pivotably connected to the top 4 of the principal :mast 1 and the outer end of which is connected with the outer end of the auxiliary or oscillatory jib 5 by means of two stay ropes 10 of which only one is visible on the drawing because the other is hidden behind the stay rope shown. The supporting lever 9 carries a guiding roller 11 for the hoisting rope 7.

Pivotably connected to the trunnion 2 is also an elevating lever 12, the outer end of which is connected wit-h the top 4 of the principal mast 1 by two holding ropes 13 of which only one is visible on the drawing because the other is hidden behind the holding rope shown. The outer end of the elevating lever 12 carries a set of pulleys 14 for a hauling rope 15 which passes around a corresponding set of pulleys 16 on the winch frame 3, and is operated by means of a hauling winch 17. The hoisting rope 7 is operated by means of a hoisting winch 18 which is also mounted on the winch frame 3. The crane may have an additional winch for a hoisting rope passing around a pulley at the top 4 of the principal mast 1 and carrying a hook for heavy loads.

The winch frame is provided at its bottom with a swivel ring 19 for co-operation with a swivel ring 20 carried by a foundation 21. The frame 3 also carries a counterweight 22 and the whole frame can be rotated about a vertical central axis 23.

When the crane is to be elevated from the position in 3 FIGURE 1 to that shown in FIGURE 2, the hauling Winch 17 is operated whereby the hauling rope will rotate the elevating lever 12 about the trunnion 2. Now the holding ropes 13 become taut, whereafter the upper end 4 of the principal mast 1 is elevated. Between the set of pulleys 14 and the outer end of the supporting lever 9, there is provided jib ropes 24 which will become taut when the principal mast has performed an angular movement of about 15 from the position shown in FIGURE 1, and upon further hauling of the hauling rope, the crane will be moved to the position of maximum elevation shown in FIGURE 2. When this has been reached two rigid stay rods 25 are placed between the frame 3 and the principal mast 1. In the drawing only one of said stay rods 25 is visible because the other is hidden behind the stay rod shown. Now, the holding ropes 13 are hauled taut by means of the Winch 17. Then the free end of the elevating lever 12 is connected with the frame 3 by means of connecting elements 26 eg in the form of tightening screw, each comprising two sleeves having opposite screw threads and interconnected by a similarly threaded rod.

The set of pulleys 14 is detachably connected with the end of the elevating lever 12 such as illustrated in FIGURES 3 and 4. The elevating lever 12 consists of two arms 27, only one of which is shown in FIGURES 3 and 4. An elongated plate 28 is welded to each of the arms 27 on each side thereof, said plate 28 having two holes 29 and 30 of which the upper hole 29 serves for attachment of the holding ropes 13, while the lower hole 30 serves for attachment of the tightening screws 26. The pulleys 14 are rotatably mounted on a hollow hub 31 to each end of which there is connected a side plate 32, each of these side plates having a hole 33 for the attachment of the lower ends of the jib ropes 24. Each of the arms 27 with associated plates 28 has a hole for receiving locking pins 34, one of which is shown in FIGURE 4, said locking pins being adapted to engage with the hollow hub 31.

This construction provides a means of readily releasing the set of pulleys 14, viz. by withdrawing the locking pins 34 so that the hauling winch 17 may now immediately be used for operating the auxiliary jib .since it is connected with the jib rope 24. This is illustrated in FIGURE 2 where 5' represents a changed position of the jib 5 in dotted lines. This means that the hauling rope 15 has been slackened until the set of pulleys 14 assumes the floating position illustrated at 14'.

It will be understood that if a particularly rigid holding of the principal mast is not required, the rigid stay rods 25 may be omitted. Moreover, it will be understood that instead of the ropes mentioned, single ropes may be used if other means are provided for preventing lateral movements of the crane parts, or if the latter are not at all subjected to forces tending to move them in a lateral direction.

I claim:

1. In a crane having a winch frame, a principal mast, means for pivotably connecting the lower end of said principal mast to said winch frame, a pivotable auxiliary jib carried by said principal mast adjacent the upper end thereof, a supporting lever for said auxiliary jib, stay line means for connecting the free end of said auxiliary jib to said supporting lever, jib line means connected at one of its ends to said free end of said supporting lever, floating pulley means, said jib line means being connected at its other end to said floating pulley, and hauling winch means for operating said auxiliary jib through said floating pulley means, the improvement comprising an elevating lever pivotally mounted on said winch frame adjacent said lower end of said principal mast, holding line means for connecting the free end of said elevating lever with said upper end of said principal mast for effecting raising of the same, means for releasably locking said free end of said elevating lever relative to said floating winch to support said principal mast through said holding line means in erected position, and releasable coupling means on said elevating lever for connecting said floating pulley means to said free end thereof whereby said principal mast can be moved to said erected position by said hauling winch means through leverage provided by said elevating lever.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein is further provided rigid stay means directly connected to said winch frame for releasably securing and stabilizing said principal mast in said erected position through cooperation with said holding line means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,037,641 6/1962 Potter et al 212144 X 3,134,488 5/1964 Brekelbaum et al. 212l44 X 3,149,730 9/1964 Mork 212144 X EVON C. BLUNK, Primary Examiner.

M. L. AJEMAN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN A CRANE HAVING A WINCH FRAME, A PRINCIPAL MAST, MEANS FOR PIVOTABLY CONNECTING THE LOWER END OF SAID PRINCIPAL MAST TO SAID WINCH FRAME, A PIVOTABLE AUXILIARY JIB CARRIED BY SAID PRINCIPAL MAST ADJACENT THE UPPER END THEREOF, A SUPPORTING LEVER FOR SAID AUXILIARY JIB, STAY LINE MEANS FOR CONNECTING THE FREE END OF SAID AUXILIARY JIB TO SAID SUPPORTING LEVER, JIB LINE MEANS CONNECTED AT ONE OF ITS ENDS TO SAID FREE END OF SAID SUPPORTING LEVER, FLOATING PULLEY MEANS, SAID JIB LINE MEANS BEING CONNECTED AT ITS OTHER END TO SAID FLOATING PULLEY, AND HAULING WINCH MEANS FOR OPERATING SAID AUXILIARY JIB THROUGH SAID FLOATING PULLEY MEANS, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING AN ELEVATING LEVER PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID WINCH FRAME ADJACENT SAID LOWER END OF SAID PRINCIPAL MAST, HOLDING LINE MEANS FOR CONNECTING THE FREE END OF SAID ELEVATING LEVER WITH SAID UPPER END OF SAID PRINCIPAL MAST FOR EFFECTING RAISING OF THE SAME, MEANS FOR RELEASABLY LOCKING SAID FREE END OF SAID ELEVATING LEVER RELATIVE TO SAID FLOATING WINCH TO 